Electric vs Propane Water Heater

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Once again I am reaching out to this great group of knowledge, as some may remember I am building a house in the Eugenia area and its time to finish my plumbing.

As I have no knowledge of propane vs electricity water heaters I am looking for some feedback, I was surprised that propane tanks are special order at all stores, even the ones out side of the city, but also the fact that a propane one is about 3 times the cost.

Does going with a propane unit justify itself in the long run?

The basement in the house has been designed to be a rental property so it will have a separate water heater so the cost difference is quite large approximately 3 times per unit, which is a fair bit so any and all info is greatly appreciated.

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Are you going to have propane for other items like kitchen stove or whatever. If not I wouldn't bother going with propane, however if you lose electric in that area a lot you could run out of hot water but if you have a well pump it would not matter.

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Are you going to have propane for other items like kitchen stove or whatever. If not I wouldn't bother going with propane, however if you lose electric in that area a lot you could run out of hot water but if you have a well pump it would not matter.

Most of the modern natural gas heaters are power vented and have electronic ignition; so they need electricity to run. I suspect that the propane ones are the same.

However, a generator should be able to provide enough power for the ignition and venting.

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Operating costs for propane are less than hydro. The best ROI is On Demand propane hot water. If renting a unit (gas or electric) is possible in your area I would consider it depending on monthly cost. You never need worry about break downs and repair costs.

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Terry the hidden cost of the tankless heaters are they do scale up. It needs to be capped off and solvent clean every 1-3 years depending on the build up rate. They also allow people to use more hot water meaning 3 kids and 2 adults all want to shower in the morning call all get a 10 minute shower. With a conventional heater 75 gallons they all will get a 5 minute shower. The BTU rating of the tankless heaters have up to 3 times the burn rate so they can keep the coils hot when the water flows thru. So 50 minutes of 3 times the burn rate is 150 minutes of burn time compared to 75 gallon 1/3 burn rate for 1 hour. That means to keep the water warm thru the day to equal the amount of gas consumed the heater would have to run just shy of 2 hours. Now if people use the tankless heater in the same pattern meaning 5 minute showers then they do save money.